You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

Welcome to Ultimate Subaru Message Board, my lurker friend!

Welcome to Ultimate Subaru Message Board, an unparalleled Subaru community full of the greatest Subaru gurus and modders on the planet! We offer technical information and discussion about all things Subaru, the best and most popular all wheel drive vehicles ever created.

We offer all this information for free to everyone, even lurkers like you! All we ask in return is that you sign up and give back some of what you get out - without our awesome registered users none of this would be possible! Plus, you get way more great stuff as a member! Lurk to lose, participate to WIN*!

Say hello and join the conversation

Subscribe to topics and forums to get automatic updates

Get your own profile and make new friends

Classifieds with all sorts of Subaru goodies

Photo hosting in our gallery

Meet other cool people with cool cars

Seriously, what are you waiting for? Make your life more fulfilling and join today! You and your Subaru won't regret it, we guarantee** it.

* The joy of participation and being generally awesome constitutes winning** Not an actual guarantee, but seriously, you probably won't regret it!

am icrazy to consider the auto armor deal?

potential new subie owner (06 outback, all that remains is to arrange financing, yuck)

even though i always hear to turn down rust proofing, etc. i am somewhat considering it for this car for following reasons-
- i am not guaranteed to faithfully wax it myself..i start out with good intentions, but hey i know myself!
- i live in western ny with no garage- tons of snow/road salt
- i am planning to keep my soobie as long as possible (i'd love to beat the current local record of 498k from a guy in a nearby town!).....and i want it to stay nice

potential new subie owner (06 outback, all that remains is to arrange financing, yuck)

even though i always hear to turn down rust proofing, etc. i am somewhat considering it for this car for following reasons-- i am not guaranteed to faithfully wax it myself..i start out with good intentions, but hey i know myself!- i live in western ny with no garage- tons of snow/road salt- i am planning to keep my soobie as long as possible (i'd love to beat the current local record of 498k from a guy in a nearby town!).....and i want it to stay nice

No, you're not crazy---but consider this: any "Auto Armor", rustproofing, undercoating, etc is pure profit for the dealer. They can have their new car make-ready crew (typically younger employees that don't get paid very well) apply this stuff in no time flat. If you don't mind paying through the nose for something that costs the dealer next-to-nothing, go for it. One more consideration: is the "5-year paint protection" and "5-year leather protection" some sort of warranty that they're giving you? If that's the case, I would be concerned. You don't often see a four or five year-old car with paint or leather problems anyway----those kinds of things tend to happen later in the life of a car.When I worked at a dealer years ago, they would sell Auto Armor paint protection to customers, and then tell them that it required a periodic "re-application" (at the customer's expense!!) and a periodic "paint inspection" to keep the warranty valid. Beware!!

Most of these things are pure profit for the dealer. What should make you decide is look around your neighboorhood. Do you see any cars that are around 10 years old and rotted to hell. Look at subarus on the street. If you live in a heavy rust belt, then yes i would consider it, but i still might not do it, as most cars can make it past 7 years with no issues.
My outback here on Long Island (more salt with that snow flurry please) and has no rot except for the tail gate handle. Otherwise its perfect.
ALos alot of these applications have to bond to the surface to work, when they are really just bonding to the paint finish. Yes there is paint finish under the car too, as its easier for the robots to paint the entire car then just a section of it.

when I bought some newer soobs lately I was getting the "teflon paint protection" I can see a difference in my friends Honda (1999) (he has it on his car) compared to others on the road today and he doesn't have a garage. I was pleased with it on my old forester and Impreza.

As for rustproofing....my Imp was gooey underneath from something and I didn't pay extra for it... factory? Realistically i prefer to undercoat myself mostly b/c i think I can do a better job than a highschool kid who really doesn't care about my car can do.

I personally don't believe in the paint protectants. IMO, nothing beats loyalty of the owner in waxing the car on a normal basis. Just wax it at least once (3-4x pref) a year and that should be all you need.

A) Waxing is SO much cheaper You do the work, controlling the quality of the job
C) Nothing shows your appreciation more than a waxing of your baby

something with rust proofing if I lived back east. The other day I was decorating the Caltrain holiday train in Port of Redwood City. It was raining and the warehouse we were storing the Xmas decorations in was down a road that had turned to deep mud churned up by big 18 wheel gravel trucks.
I ran the Forester over the mud at the top of first gear to keep from sinking. When I hit sinkholes it splashed enought to require wipers and washers.
At the end of the day I washed most of the mud off in my driveway with the hose before even attempting a car wash. As I washed it off the factory paint or undercoat came off in large sections. This makes me think the factory stuff is not too tough if you can wash it off with a garden hose.
I am in CA and maybe they don't undercoat as well for this area? I really don't know.

if this is done right all the door panels[inside] must be removed.these must be reinstalled with new fasteners if not you get rattles,loose pull handles,bad connections on electric windows etc.dont think its worth the extra money and the hassles that come afterwards.

Tempting if you live in the northeast. But... for the undercarriage, I spent $30 for four cans of really expensive spray on tar undercoating, and did my truck in about two hours. Even if I redo this every two years, it's wayyyyy cheaper than the dealer. I know I should wash winter salt off every week, but I don't always get to it, so I invested the time to tar coat it instead. This was a 21 year old truck that didn't come with a tar undercoating (with no rust!, since it lived in New Mexico and central Washington before I got it). I don't know if the newer subaru's come with factory undercoating already, but my '89 GL did, either from the factory or a previous owner.

I wouldn't do it even if the dealer offered to do it for $50. I used to work for a company that made coatings to resist corrosion. while we didn't work specifically with cars, I do know that spraying a coating underneath the car won't do anything.

as far as not waxing the car, that won't make a difference in terms of rust (it will make a difference in terms of how good your car looks)

do you want to know how to keep your car from rusting? after every rain or snow storm, take off all the panels in your car. wash off any dirt or salt and make sure you dry thoroughly. Next clean any weld points and and crevices. apply your favorite protective coating. Re-assemble your car and repeat every time you hit a puddle.

there's no "set it and forget" method out there that will prevent your car from rusting. no one-time application of a coating (beyond what's done at the factory) can compete against the elements. the easiest way to keep your car nice for a long time is to take it to a drive through brushless car wash (with the undercarraige spray) from time to time.

I wouldn't do it even if the dealer offered to do it for $50. I used to work for a company that made coatings to resist corrosion. while we didn't work specifically with cars, I do know that spraying a coating underneath the car won't do anything.

as far as not waxing the car, that won't make a difference in terms of rust (it will make a difference in terms of how good your car looks)

do you want to know how to keep your car from rusting? after every rain or snow storm, take off all the panels in your car. wash off any dirt or salt and make sure you dry thoroughly. Next clean any weld points and and crevices. apply your favorite protective coating. Re-assemble your car and repeat every time you hit a puddle.

there's no "set it and forget" method out there that will prevent your car from rusting. no one-time application of a coating (beyond what's done at the factory) can compete against the elements. the easiest way to keep your car nice for a long time is to take it to a drive through brushless car wash (with the undercarraige spray) from time to time.

im sure glad you said it first,i was afraid everybody would jump me,but you are exactly right.

thank you all for your input. i don't see any rusted out cars in my area, other than my 97 stratus on the hood that was replaced after an accident...mmmm...and that is with me only waxing the car a couple of times ever.

i think i will 'invest' in a booklet of brushless car wash coupons (go right past one on way home from work) for the winter and a supply of high quality car care products for the summer time.

you're right- no high school kid spraying on some crap is going to do a more thorough job than me.....

thanks again and i'll be happy when i see the new obw in my driveway!

im sure glad you said it first,i was afraid everybody would jump me,but you are exactly right.